Edge Games is an album about the art of precise balance – between density and space, repetition and variation, intuition and composition. Jules Reidy and Sam Dunscombe, long-time friends and musically close collaborators, work together here for the first time across a full-length album, creating two long-form compositions in which their individual approaches intertwine in fascinating ways.
The prolific Reidy, whose song cycle Ghost/Spirit stood out earlier this year for its melodic idiosyncrasies, takes a more restrained route here, focusing on microtonal guitar playing that is sparse yet highly effective – a perfect counterpart to Dunscombe’s gaseous, floating soundscapes. A composer and multi-instrumentalist, Dunscombe contributes field recordings, synthesiser textures and clarinet – his sound breathes, flickers and responds.
Both tracks extend beyond the 18-minute mark. »Dancing Away« thrives on Reidy’s circling guitar phrases and Dunscombe’s swelling, dissonant sounds, which lend the piece a sense of tension and unease. »Gracelords« opens with high-frequency, drawn-out tones – reminiscent of Tim Hecker’s Konoyo phase – and evolves into a warmer composition, with melodic fragments drifting in and out of misty sonic spaces.
